Afflicted
Afflicted An Afflicted is a Human who has been struck with "the Affliction", a random magical disruption that alters the DNA of its victims. There is no way to protect against the Affliction, and there is no way to cure it. It only seems to affect Humans and no other races. A Human struck with the Affliction is known as an "Afflicted". Given that the "core" region (modern territory) of the Nesarian Empire is the only magical region in the world, the Affliction only occurs in the Empire. The Affliction is not visible in its early stages, but the victim will develop a headache which worsens over several days, combined with nausea. After approximately 4 days, they will develop intense joint pain, and after 7 days, all their joints will be paralysed. The victim will stop breathing after 9 days, but will not die. It is at this time that the most visible aspect of the Affliction will develop, which is where the skin turns white and the blood turns black, making the blood vessels also appear black. After 11 days, the victim's skin will have fully changed colour, and they will no longer be paralysed, although they still will not breathe. The irides and sclerae will also be black. Throughout this whole process, the victim will steadily lose weight, becoming very thin by the eleventh day. After 12 days, the victim's teeth will be noticably sharper, and their hair will be black regardless of what colour it was before. The victim will have significantly improved strength, stamina, speed and agility, despite the lack of muscle. The victim will also be completely infertile. At this point, the physical transformation is complete. The mental transformation begins after 13 days, as the victim becomes increasingly depressed and anxious, in part due to their mutated appearance. After the 14th day, they begin to show signs of increased aggression, and they will become extremely bored very easily. After the 15th day, they will develop psychopathy and an overactive sex drive. On the 16th day, the victim completely loses the ability to feel empathy and fear. At this point, the mental transformation is complete. The Afflicted, after their physical and mental transformations are complete, in most cases will go on a spree of rape and murder, often cruelly torturing and mutilating their victims. About 35% of victims commit suicide, knowing what they will become and wanting to protect others. The Afflicted have vastly extended longspans, with the oldest recorded Afflicted living to 300 years before being captured and executed. Since no Afflicted has ever died of old age, either their lifespan must be longer than 300 years or infinite. Given how the Afflicted are essentially mutations in magic, most scholars assume that they cannot die of old age. The last recorded Affliction occured in 1910 in Nesaria, and the victim (a 12 year old girl) was shot by her father before the transformation was complete. The last recorded successful transformation occured in 1872 in Indissia, and the Afflicted raped and killed six women and killed three men before being captured and dismembered. Instances of the Affliction have been increasingly rare since the death of magic in the 12th century, although there was a brief resurgence during the rebirth of magic in the Nesarian Civil War.